"We have very good relations in the sphere of information security, the consultations are held twice a year, and this is only as part of the Foreign Ministry. There are also contacts between the special services and the Interior Ministries," the diplomat told the State Duma, Russia’s lower house of parliament.

"The problem of information security emerged not only now," Syromolotov said. The special services and the Foreign Ministry have been organizing cooperation with China on the issue for many years, some 12 or 14 years, he added.

"When China adopted regulations on information security and the law on the fight against terrorism, we understood that it is ready to build cooperation in this sphere in general," the diplomat added.

Definition of international terrorism

The definition of international terrorism has been constantly changing while the US has been trying to erode it, Russia’s Deputy Foreign Minister for Combating Terrorism, Oleg Syromolotov, said on Friday.

According to him, in the past, extremism was considered to be a category concerning some individuals. "However, as you may know, two years ago the US held the first meeting on the so-called violent extremism," the Russian diplomat pointed out. "Since then, this topic has been raised at all international meetings."

"When we came to understand what this all means, we realized that by introducing the ‘violent extremism’ definition, the US is trying to erode the definition of terrorism," Syromolotov stressed. "So it is important to adopt the Russian-Chinese agreement on cooperation in combating terrorism, separatism and extremism."

"Beijing also understands, what the (UN Secretary-General) Ban Ki-moon’s plan on combating violent extremism can lead to," the deputy minister noted. "This is actually a mechanism for creating colored revolutions and manipulating the definitions of terror group and extremist group.